Guam: the tiny US territory that just won its first ever World Cup match

In their last World Cup qualifier, the tiny Pacific island lost 16-0 to Tajikistan. They didn’t even have a home pitch. But after winning a historic match on Thusday, they’re top of their qualifying group – and they’re dreaming big

Alexander Lee advances down the right for Guam.A first-half own goal by Serdar Annaorazov gave the hosts victory.
Photograph: Scott McIntyre

There is, as the team’s head coach Gary White put it, only one chance to do something for the first time.

For the tiny Pacific island of Guam – a US territory with a population of just 180,000 – that moment arrived just after four o’clock on Thursday, when they hosted Turkmenistan in their maiden home World Cup qualification match.

Not only was it Guam’s first home qualifier, it was also the first time the football association had ever sold tickets for a match, and the first time the national team was broadcast live on local television.

Little wonder locals on the island more famous for sun and sand than saves and shots called it not only the biggest sporting moment in Guam’s history, but perhaps the most significant event ever .

And on a perfect North-Pacific June afternoon – all billowing clouds and tropical warmth – the team known island-wide as the Matao kept their end of the bargain in the construction of the oldest sporting fairytale in the book; the against the odds, backs-to-the-wall, underdog victory.

In front of a capacity crowd of a couple of thousand – although that was difficult to measure after the Guam FA brought in 18 temporary bleachers – a first-half own goal handed the side a 1-0 win, which, for the time being at least, put them top of their qualification group.

While Russia 2018 remains a long way off, it was, literally, the dream start.

Guam is the smallest of Asia’s 47 national teams by a considerable margin, and so parlous was the state of football in the country barely a generation ago that they didn’t even bother entering the World Cup.

Indeed, the last time they played a World Cup qualifier was back in 2000, against Tajikistan in neutral Iran. They lost 16-0.. Three days prior Iran had put 19 past them.

It shows just how far football has grown on the island.

One man who feels that more than most is Jason Cunliffe, the long-serving captain, leading goalscorer and all-time caps holder for the Matao.

A man who still plays his club football domestically and who embodies all that is good about the local game, right down to the name of his first-born son – Zico.

“This has the chance to change Guam, to change football here. Honestly, it’s a bit surreal; it’s like a dream.”

“What it will do is grow the game, we’ve got a lot of little ones out here who will now aspire to be on the Matao or the Masakada (the women’s team), it raises the game, it raises awareness.”

“I was a part of some of those tough results previously; I first got on the team in 2006. I’ve been through the trials and tribulations, I’ve had the double-digit scorelines as recently as 2008 and 2009, and to turn it around this quickly is amazing.”

Not only does the result have the potential to further reinvigorate the football scene here it also brings attention to Guam more generally and helps to enhance a cultural revitalization on the island.

I spent the week leading up to the match staying with the team, and the first thing that was evident is that how proud they are of their cultural roots, traced back to the indigenous Chamorro people.

Perhaps unique among international teams, the side gathers together as a group before every single training session, face to the west and sing the national anthem with a gusto that threatens to require a second warm-up.

Before that though comes another ritual, an emotional chant known as the Inifresi, a pledge to their motherland in Chamorro.

Standing in a tight circle the entire playing, coaching and support staff cantillate the words as if coming from the depths of their soul, a paean to their forebears.

As the translation goes:

This I offer/to protect and defend

The beliefs/the culture/the language/the air

The water/the land of the Chamorro

The man who leads the scene from the centre of the circle is former youth international, and current kit man, Robbie de Guzman, who explains its significance.

“The Inifresi is a pledge to our language, our culture, our people, our way of life, it’s a promise to continue our way of life.”

“It’s about family, which means a lot to us. That’s what our team is, we’re just one big family and we want to re-create the Chamorro family unit which is one of the strongest bonds you’ll ever come across.”

Ancient Chamorro society – and in many cases the contemporary version – was a matriarchal one and while there are several women in high-ranking positions within the FA, it’s two men who have transformed the recent fortunes of the side; the current coach, Englishmen Gary White and the FA president Richard Lai.

“We first started this program and this idea 12 years ago with the vision that we wanted to be competitive at World Cup level and to come this close really shows me the power of football to develop in any corner of the world,” Lai tells me.

“Ten years ago football was a minor sport in Guam, maybe the sixth or seventh most popular and now, in terms of participation, we are number one. If you had of said ten years ago to anyone walking on this island that we would be in the second round of qualification and with a good chance of success, nobody would have believed it – I mean we had no chance of hosting games then because we didn’t even have a pitch.”

Lai attributes much of that success to the man he recruited in 2012 to head what many have called the island’s football revolution, Gary White.

The 40-year-old Englishmen arrived in Guam via obscure stints in the lower reaches of the US football system and a handful of coaching and technical roles in the Caribbean but has overseen a dramatic transformation in the team’s fortunes.

A tactically astute and incredibly detailed coach who has an excellent rapport with his team White has also embraced and encouraged the fermentation of the side embracing their cultural roots.

“The culture of the Guamanians is very clear and evident, yes, it’s an American territory and it has the American feel but you can taste and touch the history and the heritage here and that’s definitely rubbed off on us and we made sure that was instrumental in how we built this program.”

“Prior to me coming here it was a very negative program because teams would go out and try not to lose by too many but that, for me, is not the way to play football. If you’re going to play let’s go out to try and win and use our strengths so I needed something to connect everybody and then also connect the community to support us.”

“I think the best way of doing that is bringing in things like the Inifresi which everybody knows in Guam and to give us a nickname – the Matao – so these things start to grow a culture and now that culture is being seeped all the way through to the academy and youth sides and all the way back up.”

Guam’s next assignment, on Tuesday, is against another nation on the rise in India and looms as another daunting challenge but the benefit of a positive result against Turkmenistan is that it’s buoyed belief amongst a group that often have things other than football on their minds.

Only one member of the squad – LA Galaxy defender A.J. DeLaGarza - plays top-tier football and several have fulltime jobs; one works in a bank, another is a marine scientist while goalkeeper Doug Herrick, who pulled off several fine saves on Thursday, works for an organisation that deals in cornea transplants.

To say they’re punching about their weight is no understatement.

The reality though – on paper at least – is that Guam is much closer to the bottom-ranked nations than those at the top but change is slowly blowing through the steamy air.

A side that previously lumbered now plays with crisp passing, movement and incision and whereas before the aim was damage limitation there’s now genuine belief – and evidence - that their poise on the ball can bring positive results.

As afternoon fell into evening on Thursday the players and staff were still lingering around their newly built, compact, stadium signing autographs and posing for photos with seemingly every child this side of Saipan.

For a nation that’s been bounced as a colonial ball from side to side it’s these kinds of moments where this group of footballers – all tied by either blood or base to Guam - have marked a small, but significant, turning point in the history of their island.